After Tiptree
by catsncrazies
Summary: After the Reaper invasion, Shepard is sent to Tiptree to retrieve a small beacon that was left behind. He encounters a surprise in the form of Hilary Moreau, thought to be dead, but joy quickly turns to mystery as not everything is as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

After Tiptree Ch 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and all its lovely characters, settings, etc. Bioware does. This is just for fun, and I'm making no profit from this story.

"Home sweet home," Joker muttered as they approached the small colony world.

Garrus glanced at him out of the corner of his eye with a slightly pained look but said nothing. Shepard had noticed everyone giving Joker uncharacteristically sympathetic looks ever since they had been sent on this mission to retrieve a piece of Reaper tech that had been left behind in the invasion on Tiptree. He had even overheard Traynor and James doubting the humanity of whoever had made the decision. He was rather inclined to agree with them, what with the fact that Joker had grown up there. There was also the still very recent news brought back by an asari commando who had saved herself during the invasion by murdering his little sister. Minor details, according to Alliance higher-ups, apparently.

"EDI, run a scan."

If this mission was getting to Joker, he was hiding it very well. Shepard had suggested they try to find someone to fill in, but he wouldn't hear of anyone else flying his baby.

"I'll be fine," he had said. "As long as it's to give the Reapers what they deserve, it's worth it."

Shepard watched him now, his hands steady as ever on the controls, waiting for EDI's report.

"No hostiles detected. Clear to proceed."

They descended slowly toward the planet's surface, and Shepard checked his datapad for what must have been the hundredth time. The blinking light was almost directly below them on the map, apparently in the ruins of what had been a small farming town. If all went well, the tracker would lead him straight to it.

The Normandy made contact with the ground with hardly a bump, a skill that Shepard knew Joker prided himself immensely on. When he looked at his pilot, however, he found him sitting all the way back in his seat, staring out the window like he wished it wasn't there but couldn't help looking.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just looking at the burned-out remains of my old town, where my family died. No big deal or anything."

"If you need anything- ANYthing- you let me know."

"Aye aye, Commander."

Shepard squeezed his shoulder as he passed behind his chair to leave the cockpit.

"If you run into any husks or something, give 'em hell."

"Will do."

He went out to join Garrus and Tali.

"All right, I don't expect us to run into any trouble out there, but I want you both ready just in case."

Tali patted her shotgun almost affectionately, and the look in Garrus's eyes told Shepard he was almost hoping they would need to blast through a few husks.

"They haven't told me whether we'll need to get the beacon out of something else or if it's self-contained, so Tali, I may need you to work with that."

"Of course, Shepard."

"I'll have to watch the map some of the time, so Garrus, you're chief lookout."

"Got it."

They stepped off the Normandy, Shepard leading with Garrus and Tali on either side. They kept a careful lookout for husks or banshees, but not a thing stirred. The blinking light on the datapad led them toward a partially demolished house.

"Something's coming." Garrus's voice brought them to a halt, and they gripped their weapons, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"Where?"

"By the corner. It's crawling, standing up now."

Shepard found the small figure at the side of the house as it struggled to its feet and waved an arm at them.

"Please help me!" It was a girl's voice.

"Advance, carefully. Weapons down."

They approached her, and she attempted to hobble toward them but fell after only a few steps and resumed her strange scooching crawl.

"Please! There's no one else left!"

"If this goes south and she's some kind of secret weapon, just try not to shoot me, too," said Shepard.

He left Garrus and Tali and hurried to the girl's side. She stared up at him with a sort of wonder and desperation that could only come from being alone and despairing of any sort of rescue.

"Please help me."

He crouched beside her, noticing that her left leg was bent at a strange angle, like it had been broken and let alone for several days without being set.

"It's all right. We're going to get you out of here."

"Thank you!" She reached for him with both arms and nearly fell over, and he caught her and laid her gently on the ground. "Thank you," she said again in a whisper.

Her thin face was pale behind its freckles, and Shepard realized she couldn't be older than sixteen.

"What's your name?"

"Hilary Moreau."

Shepard's stomach lurched. It couldn't be. He glanced back at Garrus, who had come up behind him.

"He talked about her with freckles."

"So did the asari."

The poor girl looked confused.

"Sorry. Hilary?" said Shepard. "Would you know a Jeff Moreau, by any chance?"

"Yes!" She struggled to sit up again. "He's my brother! Do you-"

"Hold on. Joker!"

"Yessir?"

"We found your sister! She's alive!"

"WHAT?!"

"Get Cortez to bring you out here in the Mako, and tell Doctor Chakwas we'll need her."

"WHAT?! CORTEZ GET YOUR BUTT IN THE-" He went out of range of the comm link in the cockpit.

Shepard turned back to Hilary, who seemed to have weakened significantly in the few minutes since he had first seen her. Her eyelids fluttered like she might fall asleep.

"Stay with me."

"Where's Jeff?"

"He's coming."

"I don't-" She cut herself off and swallowed hard.

She was beginning to panic, but Shepard couldn't tell why.

"You're going to be fine. Your brother's coming, and we're going to get you to a doctor."

She shrank away from him, her eyes huge, staring at something over his shoulder, but there was nothing there when he looked.

"You're safe now," he said gently, careful to keep his voice low and even. "Your brother's-"

He noticed the dot on the datapad flashing wildly right beside his location. Hilary uttered a whimper like a wounded animal and tried to scuttle backwards away from him.

"Hold on," said Shepard.

She scrambled away, and movement on the datapad caught his eye again as the dot moved away from him on the map.

"Garrus, hold her still."

Garrus knelt beside her and held her easily in place with both his hands on her shoulders.

"Let me go!" Hilary shrieked, thrashing against him.

He grimaced. "Sorry."

Shepard held the datapad directly over her and watched the light go crazy as the small alarm began to sound.

"Tali, come see this."

Tali peered over his shoulder at it.

"Watch."

He moved it to the side, away from Hilary, and the beeping stopped, but the closer he moved it to her head, the more insistent the flashing light became until the beeping started again.

"It's in her head."

"That shouldn't be possible."

"I don't see why not."

"I'll be quiet! I'll be quiet!" Hilary cried, clawing at Garrus's hands.

"Let her up." Shepard took Garrus's place, holding the girl firmly by the wrists. "Hilary, look at me. You're safe. We're going to help you."

"Get away!" she shrieked at him, her eyes huge with terror.

"You're safe. Whatever you see, it's not real."

Some semblance of life returned to her face, and she began to tremble all over, now looking horrified.

"You're safe," Shepard repeated.

She wrenched her hands from his and sat up, looking around wildly like she expected something to attack her at any moment.

The roar of the Mako cut off what Shepard had been about to say. It pulled right up to them, and Joker burst out the door like he had been shot from a cannon.

"GUNNY!"

"Jeff!"

It was a wonder that he didn't break both his knees on the ground beside her, so quickly did he rush to grab her in his arms. Hilary clung to him so tightly that Shepard feared for his bones again, but Joker didn't seem to notice and kissed her head.

"You're all right!" He was laughing through his own tears. "I thought- nevermind what I thought. You're okay. We're both okay."

She buried herself against him and choked on a little sob.

"Aww, Gunny, don't cry. You're safe."

"Jeff…"

"I'm here now. I gotcha." He smoothed her tangled hair. "I think Chakwas is going to break me if I don't let her look at you soon."

"We should take her back," Shepard agreed.

"Look, Tough Stuff, the old bones are still at it." Joker glanced at Shepard for help. "Someone's going to help you get in the Mako, and we'll take you back to the Normandy."

Shepard went back to her, and she glanced uncertainly at Joker.

"That's Shepard. I'll be right behind you."

Shepard picked Hilary up as smoothly as possible and carried her to the Mako, where he handed her in to Garrus, who set her on the seat beside him like she was made of glass. The others climbed in behind them, and Joker put his arm around his sister's shoulders and held her close the whole ride back.

Back on the Normandy, Shepard carried Hilary to the medbay and laid her where Doctor Chakwas directed him, then pulled the doctor aside for a moment.

"You know we were here looking for a piece of a Reaper beacon," he said in a low voice.

"Yes." She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"The tracker thinks it's in her head. She had some kind of episode: screaming and shaking, but I don't know if she remembers it."

"I'll run a full scan."

"Thank you." He retreated to leave Hilary alone with Joker and the doctor. Tali handed him his datapad, which now showed the beacon to be in the medbay.

"It would have been nice if they told you what that thing does," said Garrus.

"They're not getting any reports out of me yet, either," said Shepard.

A long time later, Doctor Chakwas called for him again. When he entered the medbay, Hilary was asleep, her leg restrained in a splint. Joker sat in a chair next to her with one of her hands held between his own.

"You'll want to see this, Commander. You too, Mr. Moreau." Joker got up to look with them, and the doctor pulled up an image from a full-body scan on her screen and zoomed in on the head. "That silver piece shouldn't be there."

Shepard looked where she pointed at the tiny, cone-shaped object near the back of the girl's brain.

"I found an injection site at the base of her skull; it must have been designed to work its way in until it couldn't be taken out without serious risk of instant death. I'm no nerosurgeon, but my guess is that it's inoperable."

"What IS that thing?" said Joker.

"Reaper tech," said Shepard. "The tracker led me straight to her."

Joker stared at the screen for a long moment and slowly clenched his fist.

"Do you have any idea what it's doing to her?" said Shepard.

"I can't say for sure. Her brain waves and her vitals are normal, but there could be any number of effects that I can't see."

"What about the fit she had when we first found her?"

"The only way to find out would be to monitor her if it happens again. My only guess is that she may have been reacting to whatever signal the tracker sent through her body."

Joker took a very long, shuddering breath. "So you mean to tell me we have some kind of Reaper beacon full of radiation or mind-control stuff or who knows what, and it's inside my sister?"

"I'm afraid so."

Joker looked back at Hilary, who was still asleep on the bed. "And you can't do anything about it."

"Not here, with so little information."

"Right. Okay." He began to pace back and forth. "Oh God."

Shepard had never seen him so undone. "Joker-"

The pilot turned to him with wide eyes. "What're you going to tell the Alliance?"

"I have to tell them the truth."

Joker looked ill. "They'll kill her for that beacon. Just grab a knife and a pair of pliers and-"

"Over my dead body," said Shepard.

Joker frowned deeply.

"Trust me."

"It's not you who I'm worried about."

"I'll take care of the rest of them. They're better than you think."

Joker let out his breath in a long sigh. "So what do we do?"

"Talk to her when she wakes up and try to find out what happened," said Chakwas. "If she remembers, we might have half the information we need right there."

"Did you find anything else that looked out of the ordinary?" said Shepard.

"Nothing that would relate."

Joker looked grim.

"You stay here," said Shepard. "I can at least let them know we found what they sent us for."

He went to his office, prepared for a very long, frustrating call.


	2. After Tiptree Chapter 2

After Tiptree Ch.2

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and all its lovely characters, settings, etc. Bioware does. This is just for fun, and I'm making no profit from this story.

An email was waiting for Shepard from Udina, but he ignored it for the time being and contacted Hackett. The admiral appeared like a benevolent ghost in the transparent blue of the QEC.

"Shepard. Status report?"

"We've located the beacon, but there were some complications you should know about." How was he supposed to explain this?

"Go on," said Hackett.

"You remember this was my flight lieutenant's home planet?"

The admiral looked like he had suddenly developed a rather severe headache.

"He's fine," Shepard added quickly, before Hackett began to think Joker had lost it and started trying to murder people with his baseball cap. "Just…" This story was going to sound nonsensical no matter how he tried to tell it. "The tracker led us straight to his younger sister. According to it and our medical scanner, the beacon is in her brain, and our doctor thinks it would be impossible to remove without killing her."

Hackett paced the length of the room several times without a word.

"Admiral?"

He came back, frowning deeply. "That's impossible."

"Only if the tracker and the medical scanner are both wrong, sir."

"Of all the- How?"

"The doctor found an injection site at the base of her skull."

"But who would have injected a Reaper beacon into the girl's head, and why?"

"That's what we don't know," said Shepard. "We're hoping to ask her when she's awake again."

Hackett frowned again. "Is it affecting her at all?"

"She had some kind of panic episode when the tracker was directly over her, but the doctor says her brain waves are normal, and she's perfectly aware."

"Interesting," said Hackett. "I'd like to meet her."

"I'll warn you, she's been through a lot," said Shepard.

"I'm aware. Is she injured?"

"A broken leg is all I know of."

"Then would I be allowed on board your ship to meet her?"

"Of course."

"Good. I'll see you at the docks Tuesday morning."

"Yes sir."

Hackett ended the call and left Shepard feeling relieved at how smoothly it had gone and very slightly less like pounding his head against a wall than before. He remembered Udina's email and read it, just in case it was urgent, but it was only a cryptic request to meet and discuss "a matter of great importance" when he returned to the Citadel. That could wait. Shepard got up and went back to the medbay to update Joker- and Hilary if she was awake- on the situation.

*perspective jump*

"Thanks, EDI."

Unsettling and sarcastic as she could be at times, the AI really was fond of him, Joker thought. She had bothered to come find him and ask about Gunny, and she had even promised to keep an extra watchful eye over the entire ship, just in case.

Shepard came in, his expression unreadable, and EDI, for once in her synthetic life, took a hint as quickly as an organic might.

"I will be here if you need me, Jeff."

"Thanks."

"How are you holding up?" Shepard asked, coming over to him.

"Fine." A new pit of anxiety opened up inside him. "What do they want?"

"Hackett wants to meet her."

Joker knew better than to think that was it, even from Hackett. "And?"

"That's all. He's not convinced it's possible yet."

"I hope he's right."

They were quiet, and Gunny stirred a little and sighed in her sleep.

"Chakwas said she'd wake up soon," said Joker.

"I'll leave you two alone," said Shepard.

He went out again, and Joker leaned forward to check if Gunny was awake yet. She wasn't, and he sat back in his chair and folded his arms with a sigh. All the business with the beacon aside, he just wanted to talk to her and make sure she was really all right. Make sure it isn't changing her, an evil little voice in the back of his mind suggested, and he felt sick.

If he was truly honest with himself, he had to admit he was also terribly worried again, but since Gunny had, at least in his mind, come back from the dead, things could definitely be worse. Surely having a small piece of Reaper tech immovably lodged in one's head was only a minor setback, right? He almost snorted. Right, and Krogans were wonderful to cuddle with, too.

Gunny sighed deeply and stretched, and her eyes blinked open just a slit.

"Hey there." Joker had thought he might need to force a reassuring smile, but it came all on its own. "Finally awake?"

"Yeah." She smiled back at him, still sleepy.

"How're you feeling?"

"Okay." She pushed herself into a somewhat upright position and looked around. "Are we on the Normandy?"

"Yep."

"Will you show me everything like you promised?"

He couldn't hold back a grin. "You bet."

She beamed, then her expression grew more serious. "I knew you'd find me."

"Awww."

"Don't awww me."

"Awww."

"Jeff."

"Sorry." He scratched the back of his neck. "I was worried about you."

Gunny gave him a devilish grin. "Awwwww."

"Don't awww me!"

"You can't stop me."

"Seriously, though, I was worried," he said. "They told me you were dead."

"But you wouldn't be-"

"Before that."

Gunny had lost her teasing smile. "I'm okay, see?" She patted his hand consolingly. "They don't know what they're talking about. Who're 'they', anyway?"

"The bigwigs told Shepard to tell me."

"Where'd they hear it?"

"Some crazy asari who made it back from Tiptree."

Something changed in Gunny's face. "What was her name?"

"I didn't pay much attention to her name."

"That's okay," she said. "A whole bunch of asari fighters came to help, and one of them, Aeian, was really cool. She was supposed to spend the night at our house, and I showed her around and we talked about how I want to be a pilot, and she thought that was cool, too."

"Just cool?"

"I think she also thought we were crazy."

She was doing an excellent job of feeding him interesting tidbits of information without actually telling him anything, Joker realized.

"The story they told me didn't leave much room for you to survive. What really happened?"

Gunny looked almost embarrassed. "Do you really want to hear?"

"If you're okay telling me."

"Okay." She glanced at him, looking both anxious and strangely apologetic. "It isn't nice."

"You lived through it. I think I'll survive hearing it."

"Okay." She folded her arms across her chest. "Well, this other asari showed up while Aeian was in the shower, and everyone came out to see because she was kind of glowing and they were a little scared. I went and got Aeian, and when she came out, the other asari's eyes turned black, and she touched Mr. Jamison and he- well- he just DIED. Then everybody freaked out, and she started trying to touch them and kill them too, or she would shoot blue fire and break people, and then all the husks came. I tried to find Dad, but they were everywhere, and everyone was running and screaming and people were dying and- yeah. Then Aeian grabbed me and we ran, but a bunch of husks chased us all the way past Carver's Hill. We fought them off, but we kept running into more. I killed four with a stick." She paused and looked at him, expectant.

"Damn right," said Joker.

Gunny sat up a little straighter, but her proud little smile faded quickly. "Do you really wanna hear the rest?"

"If you're okay talking about it."

"Okay. We hid out in the hills and fought husks and things for two days, but Aeian said we had to go back to get her gun and her radio and try to find her people so they could maybe get us out. The other asari was still there, and she was SCARY. We had to sneak right by her, but she didn't see us. Then we got to the Smiths' house, and half the neighbors were there, all chained up, and it was like they didn't even see us. We went to help them, but when I let them go-" she swallowed, "They all started screaming and ran at us, and all the husks came again."

Gunny was staring at something behind him, and Joker had a feeling it wasn't the wall of the medbay. He reached out and smoothed a stray piece of hair back behind her ear, and she continued a little shakily.

"Aeian had to fight them off, and there were still husks everywhere, too many to fight. Two jumped on me and threw me on the ground and my leg broke. It hurt, like really hurt, and I couldn't move, and they wouldn't get off. I don't remember much after that except Aeian got them off me and there was this big flash and the whole barn fell down. Then she picked me up and ran, and it HURT, Jeff! It was bad."

"Yeah?" As far as he knew, she had never broken a bone before, a fact he was a little envious of.

"Yeah."

"What happened then?"

"We hid, but the other asari was coming. Aeian told me to be quiet, and I tried, but it really, really hurt and I couldn't stop crying, and the other asari was going to hear."

Her face was pale, and Joker's own heart had begun to race.

"She tried to kill me."

"Aeian?"

"Yeah." Her voice was tiny.

Joker wished his bones were strong enough to let him pick her up and hold her, but something about the way she sat perfectly still and stared at the wall without seeing anything made him also afraid to touch her. He settled for gently taking her hand and holding it between both of his own, and she looked at him almost pleadingly.

"Do you need a hug?"

"Yeah."

Joker got out of his chair and wrapped her in his arms, and she fastened hers around his neck.

"Was that what they said happened to me?"

"Yeah."

"I'm okay, promise." She didn't sound okay, but he didn't argue.

"Yeah. You're safe."

She let go of him and sat back against her pillows, and he sat down again.

"How did you get away?"

"I don't remember. She was gone when I woke up. Then the other asari came."

A deep pit of anxiety formed in Joker's gut. "What did she do?"

"She came up behind me and grabbed me like Aeian- I thought it was her again at first, but it wasn't. I was sure she was going to kill me, and she stabbed the back of my neck with something that felt like a needle so I couldn't move, and it was pretty scary. Then I woke up again, and she was gone, too. All the husks were, so I figured out how to sort of crawl around and started looking for Dad, but I didn't find him."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Before they came."

"Do you think he could have-"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

Joker felt like a giant hand had reached inside his chest and started squeezing as hard as it could. Gunny pressed her lips very tightly together and looked away from him. They were quiet for a long time, each taut with suppressed emotion. Joker spoke first.

"If he's alive, we'll find him."

"Yeah," said Gunny in a very small voice.

They were both quiet again for a long time before she spoke. "How'd you find me?"

The beacon. Joker felt like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. He had to tell her.

"Uhhhhh." He scratched the back of his head. Way to go, Jeff. Give the poor girl who just lost her dad and survived a Reaper attack and an attempted murder something new to worry about just when she thought she was safe. "They actually sent us for Shepard to get some kind of beacon the Reapers left behind." Why couldn't he just leave it at that? "They gave him this tracker thing, and it led him right to you."

She looked uneasy, and Joker deeply wished he could assure her it was just a coincidence. Instead, he had to keep going.

"This shouldn't be possible, but it thinks the beacon's in your head."

"In- What?" Gunny stared at him.

"The other asari put it there, I guess, with the needle. That's the only explanation I can think of for why she didn't kill you."

"Maybe the tracker's wrong?" Gunny's voice shook slightly.

"Something showed up on the medical scan, too." Everything in him wanted to deny, deny, deny.

"Can they take it out?" Her eyes were huge and her voice slightly choked.

"Not without hurting you. Not yet, anyway, until they know more."

She looked terrified. "What does it do?"

"See, that's what we don't know yet."

"W-what?"

"You freaked out a little when Shepard had the tracker right near you, but-"

"I SAW things." The sudden intensity in her face scared him. "So many Reapers that I couldn't see the sun, and people running and things burning, and- THINGS. And she was trying to kill me again, and you-"

"The doctor said that was just the signal from the tracker," Joker finished quickly. "It's not-"

"The Normandy blew up, and you died."

She was shaking.

"You were scared, and reacting to some signal going through you," he tried to reassure her, painfully aware of how easily that could be a lie. "Chakwas said your brain waves were normal, and you're not dying or anything-"

"Jeff." She clutched his hand in both of hers. "What's it doing to me?"

"I don't know, but-"

"Jeff!" She looked about to burst into tears.

"Hey, c'mere." He pulled her into a hug again, and she clung to him and tucked her head against his shoulder.

"What if it makes me like the people in the house?"

"It won't."

"How do you know?"

"I just know, okay?"

She didn't respond.

"Hackett wants to meet you. If anyone knows Reapers, it's him and Shepard. They'll figure everything out."

Gunny was quiet, and Joker stayed where he was and held her for a long time with nothing left to say.

Oof, that was super depressing. The next chapter will be much nicer, and Joker will be back to his usual self, don't worry. Please tell me what you think, what you like, what you don't, what you want to see, and what I can improve. I'm considering having Aeian make a reappearance later on; what do you think? Let me know!


End file.
